What Employers Could Learn from MMOs

I met many “lazy” people who play MMO (massive, multiplayer, online) games. They will obediently sit for hours (some for twelve hours or more a day every day) and play their video game.

These games strike me as insufferably repetitive. You perform a mindless task via the press of a few buttons on a keyboard, collect points, rinse, and repeat.

I noticed that I hold something in common with other people who find these games impossible to stomach.

Just as I possess goals in the form of quotas (pages written, pages edited, pages read, hours spent at the gym), other people who cannot seem to find a use for MMOs possess busy schedules that rewards them with a sense of accomplishment, a sense that they earned something.

I find that people who grow addicted to MMOs rarely work a job that grants them this sense of satisfaction. This leads me to believe that human nature demands that we accumulate towards a goal.

MMOs grant that accumulation. Experience points allow a player to level. In-game gold allows a player to purchase new equipment for her avatar.

Even the least social person becomes social in online video games.

Even the least dependable gamer arrives for in-game missions. Their guild mates trust them.

This all provides irrefutable evidence that people want a function in a society, work to perform, and goals to accomplish. We want quests, a sense of purpose. When we cannot find them in real life, we turn to alternative sources of purpose.

If a gamer spends weeks to upgrade a fake skill in a fake world, shouldn't that same gamer work as hard for a real skill in the real world?

Why do so many people who work so seriously and so hard at video games fail to direct that same motivation towards real life?

Perhaps, if I never experienced the poor treatment I received as an employee, I never would’ve wanted so badly to go into business for myself.

I recall bosses who tried to cheat me out of my final paychecks.

A gamer would quit a game the second that their game cheated her or him of their hard earned reward.

Gamers expect to receive everything that the captains of their guilds promise in return for contributions to sieges or dungeon crawls.

I cannot recall how many times employers found some barely legal (if at all) loophole to withhold from me the overtime pay I deserved.

Members within an online guild work together. Everyone performs her or his part. No cap exists as to how many guild members may level. Everyone who works for her or his reward receives it.

Real life coworkers might try to backstab each other while they compete for a raise or promotion that only a limited number of them may acquire.

Employers ought to take a hard look at loyal, hardworking gamers. It seems they could learn much from them about human motivation.

In Defense of Online Socialization

I admit it. I bemoaned the inevitable loss of humanity’s ability to interact with itself in person, face-to-face, when common, social interaction started to take place online.

I feared that in a handful of years, people would forget how to “properly” socialize altogether.

I feel happy to report that my concerns proved needless.

The Internet affects humanity’s ability to socially interact—for the better.

Online Meet-up groups allow us to start clubs instantly. You never need to staple a bunch of fliers on posts and cross your fingers.

Play any game online with anyone, anywhere.

A chat line exists to debate any subject at any time.

I can text entire groups of friends with a few swipes of my finger.

Let’s discuss texting for a moment, because it developed a bad rap due to people such as my former self who instantly and unfairly disliked it.

I cannot, in a conversation performed face-to-face or over the phone, take back what leaves my mouth. Sometimes, I cannot even stand certain of exactly what I said.

I can review what I “said” with text messaging, rethink it, realize, where applicable, that it communicates the wrong message, and rewrite it.

I can proofread what I say in a conversation!

I, with texting and email, keep a written record of every conversation I conduct.

I can recheck facts sent to me. I can correct someone who insists that I never told them a certain something, and I can prove that they promised a certain something.

Once upon a time, if someone called me with an address, I needed to search myself for a pen, paper, and a flat surface on which to write. I afterwards possessed an address, but no idea how to find it.

Nowadays, someone texts me an address, I tap the address within the body of the text, and my phone’s GPS navigates me straight to it.

The Internet opens door. Hell, it burns them down.

A decade or so ago, you needed a publishing house to accept your novel, or it never saw the light of day.

Now, you can publish it straight onto Kindle, or Nook, or Google Books, or iBooks, or any number of other options that allow almost anyone in the world to read it right that second--or a thousand years later.

Want people to watch your standup comedy? Upload it onto YouTube.

People form bands online, practice online, cut albums online, and even sell their recordings online.

Tyrannical governments desperately want to “protect” their people from the Internet for good (well, selfish) reason. A government cannot lie to a population armed with Internet access.

Tell me that a country consists of nothing more than evil, bloodthirsty monsters that hate me for no good reason?

I can chat online with any number of those people. I can see their cities from a bird’s eye view. I can read their newspapers, watch their television programs, and observe whichever rallies take place on their college campuses.

The Internet humanizes us. It could honestly end war. I seriously propose that. The Internet could humanize us to the point that humanity no longer wants to kill itself.

What about those loners who play online MMO (massive, multiplayer, online) games, all by themselves?

They play those games with actual people. In my childhood, those same kids played games by themselves, or read comic books by themselves. They existed by themselves.

MMO games actually bring those loners closer to actual people.

The Internet grants us instantaneous connection with the world. It expands our abilities to socialize, supplies previously undreamed-of options to meet new people, experience new events and settings.

Yes, you might know someone in India better than your own neighbor, but why should you consider that a bad development?

Why should your neighbor matter more to you than your new friend in India? Because he lives closer to you? That seems a weak argument.

The Internet will continue to grow stronger, and, with it, so too will grow our ability to communicate with all of humanity. A world without walls. A world without kilometers to separate its fractions.

I raise my glass.

(I feel pleased to report that the third book in my series, Diaries of Darkwana, will finally arrive on Kindle next month. I apologize for the artwork-related delay.)

Lap Dances, Polyamorous Relationships, and Dirty Massages

The subject of cheating in a relationship might seem a bit off-topic for this blog, but I wish to touch on it, and it remains my blog, so I shall do whatever the hell I want with it.

I wish to discuss, first off, polyamorous relationships.

I refer to people who attend sexual/romantic relationships with multiple partners where everyone involved stands on the same page and understands and agrees to the situation.

I do not write of relationships where one or both partners sleep with other people unbeknownst to each other. I consider that cheating. More on that later.

Many couples, here in Seattle, enjoy a polyamorous relationship.

Each member of these relationships stands free to sleep with multiple partners. I discovered that, in many of these cases, such people consider each and every one of their partners her or his boy- or girlfriend.

Not every case proves the same, of course.

I, personally, fail to feel wired for such an arrangement, but I don’t frown upon it. I consider it the direction that humanity will eventually travel.

Marriage continues to grow less meaningful, in a legal sense, due to such factors as no-fault divorce. Birth control and longer life spans will also grease this track.

Polyamorous people often confuse me, though, when they self-identify as polyamorous but remain in an exclusive relationship.

A male friend of mine once said that his live-in girlfriend disapproved of the fact that he still referred to himself as polyamorous.

Really? She doesn’t like that? Gee.

This friend of mine swore he would never cheat on his girlfriend. I believe him.

However, when I questioned why he still identified as polyamorous, he reported that he was polyamorous, just as he might report himself a Caucasian.

Many Seattleites classify “polyamorous” as a sexuality rather than an availability. My aforementioned friend would never sleep with someone other than his girlfriend, but he remains attracted to other woman.

To which I say, “Join the club.”

A lot of debate stands between my friends and myself when it comes to the subject of cheating. We argue (with ourselves as much as with each other) on the qualifications of cheating.

Obviously, if you sleep with someone other than your spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever, and that person or people know nothing about it, you cheated.

What of a massage, though? A lap dance?

Do I, if I remain in an exclusive relationship, perform a disservice should I receive a massage from another woman?

Depends on the massage. If the massage turns “dirty” (happy ending), then, yeah, I ought to politely tell the masseuse to stop, perhaps even end the massage altogether.

Some people argue that if they go in for a professional massage, no one can hold it against them if things get “carried away.” I call bullshit on this self-service of a philosophy.

Options exist to avoid this outcome. You could always ask your significant other to join you for a couple's massage. You could casually mention your significant other to the masseuse before the start of your massage.

Hell, you could ask your significant other for a massage and enjoy whichever direction the activity takes you two.

I think one of the best ideas for an anniversary present remains tuitions at a massage school. The two of you (or eight, whatever your situation) can learn the art, get your certificates, and use your new knowledge only on each other.

You can also attend a massage clinic such as Massage Envy, which remains so professional that you actually feel a bit rejected when you leave. Your significant other will never question a massage performed at Massage Envy.

What of a lap dance?

If your significant other sits beside you and says, “Go for it,” I can’t see the harm. If you went to a strip club without him or her . . . yeah, that qualifies as, at a minimum, yellow-belt cheating.

Put it this way, guys: if your girlfriend stripped naked, sat in some other guy’s lap, and grinded him, would you feel okay about it?

Every relationship proves different. Not every couple (or group) will consider the same activities as acts of disloyalty.

Communication proves key, and if you hesitate to even ask permission to perform a certain act . . . that probably serves as your answer.

Thanks for reading.

Daughters of Darkwana received a sweet, succinct review, which you can read here, http://www.thebookeaters.co.uk/daughters-of-darkwana-by-martin-wolt-jr/

         Also, the third book in my series, Diaries of Darkwana, will hit Kindle just as soon as I find a new cover artist. I have a few candidates already, thank goodness.

Movie reviews at moviesmartinwolt.blogspot.com

Short stories at martinwolt.blogspot.com

A look at the politics of the entertainment world at EntertainmentMicroscope.blogspot.com.

An inside look at my novels (such as Daughters of Darkwana, which you can now find on Kindle) at Darkwana.blogspot.com

Tips to improve your fiction at FictionFormula.blogspot.com

Kingsmen, kidnap, and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

Kingsmen told a wonderful, absurd story about a secret, government organization that performs a lot of eye-catching, public behavior and leaves behind a lot of evidence.

You can read my review of this movie at moviesmartinwolt.blogspot.com.

I wanted, when I wrote that review, to say a lot about one of the scenes near the end, so much so that my views on that scene threatened to dominate the entire post.

I decided instead to speak of that scene here. This post, as a result, contains slight spoilers of the movie Kingsmen the Secret Service.

The scene in question: our protagonist, while he races to stop the villain and save civilization, comes across a princess that said villain locked away in a dungeon for, really, no damn reason other than to set this scene.

Our hero promises, through a window in the princess’s door, to rescue her just as soon as he saves the world. Her response to this person she never before met? “If you save the world, we do it in my butt.” Yep. You heard me.

After our hero saves the world, he, sure enough, returns to the princess’s cell with a bottle of champagne and discovers her inside, hot and ready to go.

The filmmakers even grant us a generous (though needless, story-wise) view of her naked, rear-end (plus a hint of her vagina) . . . a parting gift before the credits roll.

I must confess, before we start this trek, that I:

1) Laughed when the princess said, “If you save the world, we do it in my butt” and

2) I enjoyed the sight of her naked just fine. My brain released a nice dose of happy chemicals into my bloodstream and I smiled.

Why these confessions? Because many male critics, each with the best of intentions towards towards their quest for a less objectifying world, speak and write as if they take no pleasure in shock humor or naked, beautiful women.

Certainly, some such critics honestly fail to take interest in either of these, but I believe many overcompensate. It can confuse a guy when he wants to put an end to objectification but enjoys a woman.

Examples: John Oliver (whom I respect dearly) on his show Last Week Tonight, questioned the continued existence of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

You can watch the clip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8QNDRbjong

I admit, I don’t understand the existence of this magazine in light of the Internet and its nearly infinite supply of porn (one might even call it infinite when one considers that “filmmakers” produce it faster than you could ever hope to watch it).

However, I don’t buy that this magazine dehumanizes women. I don’t buy that if I enjoy the sight of a beautiful woman that I in some way oppress or disrespect them.

Many male critics produce online clips where they post pictures of women in bathing suits and say “Yuck” to each of them. Seriously. I witnessed this countless times.

These critics express their disapproval of pictures of half naked women and the (supposed) subsequent objectification of those women (via a snap judgment fueled on the subject’s looks) by posting pictures of half-naked women accompanied by their opinion of them fueled on her looks.

The irony runs thick.

I ran the numbers, mathematically proved that people could enjoy the female body without disrespect to the female. The opposite certainly proved true for the vast majority of human history.

Men disrespected and dehumanized women for thousands of years without the aid of Hooter calendars, pin-up girls, porn, and computer-generated, cartoon women with ridiculously “perfect” bodies.

None of these things possess an agenda. Calendars and swimsuit magazines remain inanimate, incapable of an opinion. People can, and often do, choose to use these items to justify bad, objectifying behavior.

People stand wrong, not the magazines, not the video games, not even those comic books with the simply silly-looking, female “characters” that spend a lot of time bend over for no apparent reason.

If you blame bad behavior on unrealistic images of women, then you seek to treat the symptom, not the illness.

Saudi Arabia keeps its female citizenry concealed. Yet this concealment fails miserably to humanize the Saudi women to their male counterparts.

Perhaps I merely seek to justify my own “bad behavior,” but if I watch a cute girl dance around in her underwear on YouTube, I don’t think, Oh, yeah! Pay her two-thirds what I make and take away her voting rights.

I just feel happy. I like to feel happy.

I grasp that I don’t walk in a world where everyone judges me by my looks, and unrealistic images of Photo-shopped women surround me to create unrealistic expectations of how I ought to look.

Only the most homophobic men get uncomfortable when they see a better looking, shirtless guy on TV or a billboard. Guys don’t live in a woman’s world. They live in a world with options.

Guys can make themselves appealing via an interesting and/or high-paying job, a good sense of humor, sensitivity, physical strength, or a great standup routine.

Guys needn’t feel uncomfortable surrounded by images of perfect-bodied guys. Perhaps, if we judge women based on more than their looks, they needn’t feel so uncomfortable surrounded by images of perfect-bodied women.

A final disclaimer: I don’t suggest that looks stand meaningless. They don’t. They just fail to represent the whole person, and no one should feel ashamed for or dehumanized by their appearance.

I enjoy an active lifestyle. I want a partner who can not only keep up but leave me to bite her dust. I find that attractive. I also want to start a family in the next five to ten years.

If a potential date looks like she spends a lot of time on the sofa, or appears too old to start a family in five to ten years . . . how horrible should I seem if I continue to the next candidate?

Note that I never suggested that a “bad” candidate merits anything less than respect as a human being. She merits that without question.

I will say, though I shall sound like a thirteen-year-old in the process, that the female body proves magnificent. I love it. The curves, the softness, the smell.

I want to see the day where men don’t justify bad behavior based on their own feelings towards this wonderful work of art. I want men to grasp that this “art” stands as an actual person.

Perhaps then my attention, and the attention of my fellow people, will not cause such discomfort.

The discomfort proves understandable, after all. Throughout history, women suffer terrible, traumatic events that begin with a guy’s arousal. Behave guys. Enjoy your Swimsuit Issue, but behave.

Back to Kingsmen and the scene that started this rant . . .

I would, had the movie ran this scene in earnest, found it ridiculous, perhaps even offensive. However, Kingsmen parodied James Bond, made fun of the absurd suggestion that a kidnapped woman would want to screw whoever rescued her at the very second of her rescue.

When our hero in Kingsmen found the kidnapped princess, he asked her, “If I rescue you, will you give me a kiss?” Another parody of James Bond.

Of course, when you find someone kidnapped, you don’t debate the sexual rewards you expect in return for her release.

This scene, in all its previous, straight faced forms, somehow grew acceptable to audiences who should’ve felt offended, disgusted.

What kidnap victim wants to engage in sex after her ordeal?

What sort of “hero” would negotiate sex (or even a kiss) in exchange for the victim’s release?

Thanks for reading.

Daughters of Darkwana received a sweet, succinct review, which you can read here, http://www.thebookeaters.co.uk/daughters-of-darkwana-by-martin-wolt-jr/

         Also, the third book in my series, Diaries of Darkwana, will hit Kindle just as soon as I find a new cover artist. I have a few candidates already, thank goodness.

I might likely put my entire novel series on sale soon to celebrate the last arrival of Diaries of Darkwana.

I publish my blogs as follows:

Sundays: Movie reviews at moviesmartinwolt.blogspot.com

Mondays: Short stories at martinwolt.blogspot.com

Tuesdays: A look at the politics of the entertainment world at EntertainmentMicroscope.blogspot.com.

Wednesdays: An inside look at my novels (such as Daughters of Darkwana, which you can now find on Kindle) at Darkwana.blogspot.com

Thursdays: Tips to improve your fiction at FictionFormula.blogspot.com